Files to Help Track Your Savings
Finally! I now have the savings files I refer to all the time in a format you can access!!
There are two documents I use each week to work on scenarios and track my savings. If you had requested these in the past, these are the same documents just put into separate files. The files are:
Savings Lifestyle Grocery Savings Chart
Savings Lifestyle Grocery Savings Weekly Scenarios
Instructions on downloading these to your personal system are below. Here is an explanation on each file:
Savings Lifestyle Grocery Savings Chart
This is the actual file I use to enter my weekly store totals and savings. There are several columns in this file. The entry columns on here include:
Month (no personal entry required, formula driven field)
The month the purchase was made will auto-populate. This will help to divide by the total number of months as the year progresses.
Date
Enter the date as dd/mm/yy (i.e, 1/22/10).
Store Name
Enter the Store Name. This is good in case you want to do individual store analysis.
Out of Pocket
Enter the total out of pocket amount spent at the store.
Savings – Overall
Enter the total savings you achieved at the store.
Savings – Coupons
If your store splits out the total savings into store savings, coupon savings, or anything else, list the Coupon Savings here. Many of the stores I shop do this. It's interesting to see how much of the savings come from the sale versus the coupon. If your store doesn't split out the savings reasons, just enter a zero.
Notes
Just a place to enter any notes on the transaction. This is a good way to start to remember sales cycles and store promotions as well.
Savings – Sale/Store (no personal entry required, formula driven field)
This is formula driven, so I would just leave them as is. This are all formula driven so I would highly recommend just leaving them as is. This field will auto-populate to give you the result of the coupon savings minus the overall savings. As a default, that will typically always be the sale/store promotion value.
Total Value Products (no personal entry required, formula driven field)
This is formula driven, so I would just leave as is. This will calculate your total value of products by adding the out of pocket with the overall savings numbers.
Savings Lifestyle Grocery Savings Weekly Scenarios
This is the file I use to create my shopping list and scenarios. There are currently 4 tabs in this spreadsheet: Meijer, Misc Stores, Drugstore, Weekly Total Spend.
The following tabs are simply duplicates but are included since I shop them and always want different pages for each: Meijer, Misc Stores, Drugstore. The entries you make to these documents can be deleted each week since.
The “Weekly Total Spend” tab is nice because it will give you your scenario totals for all stores on one page. So, you can work each scenario and go to that tab and know exactly how much your totals are going to be. If you change the titles of each store (i.e., change Meijer to Hyvee), this tab will automatically change the title on this page too. It is all formula driven so no manual entries need to be made to it.
I use this a lot to try to stick to our budget. So, if I see that my scenarios have me going over for the week, I can go back and cut something out (possibly a stockpile item). In a way, it takes your grocery “wants” to “needs” in order to achieve your budget.
On the different store tabs, it is self explanatory but I'll try to add my own color commentary. You will see the item and item price on the left (reflected as the Spend Total in the yellow box) then the coupon and coupon value on the right (reflected as the Coupon Total in the yellow box). So, the spreadsheet is calculating your totals as follows:
Spend Total – Coupon Total = Grand Total (before tax).
On the Coupon Total, I put the total the coupon will actually be redeemed at. So, since my grocery stores double, I don't enter the $.50 coupon but rather a $1 coupon since that's the redemption total. And, if there are e-coupons, you can simply enter them on a separate line. Honestly, I never include them in my coupon total.
On the “Grocery” tab, I also have a column to the right of Kroger since they often times have several promotions of buy X items get $X off. I use that to count my total items so I can maximize my savings and do multiple transactions if necessary. For the Buy $X and get $X off, you can simply do a sum of the items to ensure you have met your required total. Did I mention I love excel :-)
Savings Tools Downloads
You can download the document in Excel so you can save to your personal computer for editing. Download Savings Tracking Tool here. The only thing the Excel file comes with is a pie-chart to compare your overall savings, out of pocket and product grand total. See the example below.
I personally maintain everything in Google Documents since I can access them online at anytime. If you haven't used Google Docs, it is FREE and a great way to avoid buying Microsoft Office applications!!
To access these documents, please save them to your computer or personal Google Docs page by following these steps:
- Click on above links to open each in a new window
- File => Export => .XLS
- Save in your personal folder on your computer
- It will now be accessible in Excel on your system.
If you do not have excel (like me) and want to use Google Docs, still save as above and then:
- Open Google Documents (it's easy to register as a new user – I love it!)
- Upload (in blue menu bar)
- Browse for the file you saved
- Name it and Upload
Your personal files will now be available to utilize in Google Docs too!
And, for the sake of sharing, to print in Google Docs is easy too! Here's how I do it:
- File => Export => HTML Sheet
- In the HTML Sheet, go to File => Print Preview to see what the page will look like printed out.
- Print the pages you want, I always print just the first page.
I hope these files help you save in the year ahead! Please feel free to drop me comments if you have questions on the files.
** NEW ** Watch an online tutorial below on how to use the
Grocery Savings Tracking Tool!
I LOVE the way your coupon nerdiness comes out in this post. :) You make me smile! Go you!
I LOVE spreadsheets!! Your’s are incrediblly sophisticated compared to mine. I can’t wait use yours. Thanks so much for making them available.
Becky
Wow! Thank you! The spreadsheets are wonderful! Thank you also for the directions on how to save them!
I love me some GoogleDocs! MS can go jump off a cliff!
These are great tools – they’ll help a lot of your readers. Good on you for sharing!
Wow – thank you so much!!!
Thank you so much! This will make my goal of tracking spending so much easier.
OH MY GOSH! I am so thankful for this! I recently quit my job to stay home with my two kiddos, and I feel like my job is to make sure we save at the grocery store. This is definitely something that I have been looking for to use to make sure I am not exceeding my budget. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You make things like this seem so easy!
Thanks Andrea! I was looking for a better way to keep track of spending in 2009 and this is going to be it! FYI, if you know anyone who attends UC, Microsoft programs (Office, Vista, XP, etc.) is available to them for $5. These are the full programs. DH and I used to take advantage of this when we were students!
Thank you!! This will be my new years resolution to keep these spreadsheets up. I have no idea other than a time by time basis of my savings but this would be really great! Thanks for sharing!
Fantastic!! :-) First thanks for the spreadsheets and secondly and even MORE important – thanks for letting me know about Google doc .. how stinkin cool is that!!!! :-) I have a mac and never get excel on our laptops – you ROCK!!!! :-D
Just wanted to say thanks for shareing these. Part of my new years plan is going to involove more organization and I was at a loss as to how I was going to pull that off. These looks so helpful I posted a link to your blog in my post today so that my readers can make use of this as well.
I LOVE this! Thank you so much! This will make it easy to track my savings. Thanks!
Thank you so much this was one of my new years resolotions.
you rock!!
Thank you SO VERY much for the spreadsheet! I’ve been keeping track of my savings since September, but not very well. So, I”m so happy to have your “easy to use” spreadsheet. Thank you very much!
Happy New Year!
Question: How do you track rebates? Example is that I bought the orajel at walgreens, do I count that FAR savings when I enter the receipt or should I go back and change it when I have it added to my gift card? What about mail in rebates?
BHW – I just enter the purchase transaction amounts. When my card for Walgreens gets reloaded and I use it in a transaction, I enter the savings in that line item for that trip – that essentially shows my rebate money but it’s later since it’s not immediate.
Now, for MIR – I have a separate file I track all rebates, survey, and other monies I receive from doing this.
HTH!
Thanks so much for this. My husband will be sooo impressed since he is an IT professional. With 5 kids I have no time to figure out something like this. God Bless you in the New Year.
Thank you! This is great! I do have a question. When you record CVS savings how do you do that? Specifically, how to track ECB’s you have earned?
For example, I spent oop $5.15. The receipt says I saved $6.98. But neither of these reflects the $5 ECB’s I earned. Would I add that to my savings amt?
Thank you!!
Leslie, I don’t track my ECB’s because they do expire and I have (embarassingly enough) not used them.
But, when I pay with ECB’s, those of course are considered coupons and will show up as Total Savings on the receipt.
Sometimes, I track ECB deals though. Like, on my personal spreadsheet last year, I had in the comments section when the CVS Huggies (Buy $20 get a $10 ECB) ECB deal was going on. To get the ECB’s at 50% for the Huggies is a great deal that I always try to stockpile.
So, maybe you could track your ECB’s using the comments section. Enter your total as normal and then put how many you earned in that shopping trip. Just don’t double count them since that obviously inflates your savings.
HTH!
Yes, that helps. If they show up as savings when I pay then that is probably the best way to track them since earning them isn’t really a savings until I use them.
Thank you so much and God bless you for sharing your smarts with us. Seriously! What a gift and I am very thankful!!!!
What a great resource! Thanks for being so generous and sharing with all of us!
OOOOOOH! That is the coolest thing! I can’t wait to start plugging in numbers! Maybe I can graph my savings per quarter, or per store. Good feelings. Love this stuff.
thanks for these helps!!
Thanks for sharing these! I’m not sure about the second one but the savings sheet will be incredibly helpful for me…and just what I needed.
Question – and I must be stupid but when I go to export I only get a CSV and HTML option – no XLS option – what am I doing wrong? Do you know??
Thanks for sharing these. One thing I did was add a tab, and copied your explanations there.
mom23greatgirls – I really don’t know why it’s now giving you other options. Possibly try to close out/re-open and see if it lets you. Otherwise, just send me an email and I’ll email it to you.
HTH!
Thank you for sharing! This will be really neat to track our monthly grocery spending!
OMG thank you so much for this! I had just started a grocery saving excel sheet with no formulas because I didn’t want to hassle with it. Now I can keep track so much better of what we are spending.
You ROCK. Thank you so much for sharing this – I have wanted to create something like this for the longest time, but never got around to it. Can’t wait to use it and track how much we’re saving.
Happy 2009!
You have saved me so much time. I was planning on doing this very thing later today. Have you put together a spreadsheet containing grocery items, price paid/date, to keep a track of price increase or decrease?
Thanks again for sharing your great work.
Red
Red, I started keeping a price book when I first started. And, honestly now this blog is essentially a price book (if you search on here for the product, you’ll find a match).
What I do with the file is if there is a store promotion or great ECB deal at CVS, I’ll make a comment in that column. And, I’ve seen already that this year, those promotions are returning.
While many people can and do know the store cycles/pricing, getting an understanding of store promotions and RR/ECB deals is not predicted or followed (as far as I know) so that’s why I feel it important to note it on the spreadsheet – and of course on Mommy Snacks since google search can help us search here.
HTH!
Red – one other thing I should mention. I don’t keep a price book anymore (like I had in excel). I’ve found that the longer I’ve been doing this, I kinda know what I’m willing to pay for regular pricing and stockpile pricing.
Thank you so much! I liked this so much I posted on my blog about it. . .so don’t be surprised to see a bit of traffic headed your way (I don’t have a lot of readers or you’d have more!!)
http://bumblebabymommy.blogspot.com
Melissa – you’re sweet! Hey, one is better than none! :-)
This will definitely be used. Since being fired during my pregnancy, I’ve become more conscious of grocery/house/baby spending. My husband, however, doesn’t think there’s much savings in coupons/stockpiling and sales. I plan to use this to prove him wrong. Thanks.
question – on the grocery savings chart – in the savings column, do you use the numbers on the receipt – for example Krogers indicates “you saved” and meijer breaks it down with all the different savings like “non coupon savings” – OR do you just calculate your savings from the coupon values. Thanks!! Looking forward to 2010
Jen, I personally take my Kroger receipt and use the total saved amount. I include that because I also factor in that taking advantage of sales is part of saving. On the Meijer receipt I take the total savings in the top of the receipt for the same reasons.
Just do whatever makes sense for you to track. As long as you are consistent entering the same number, you will have an apples to apples comparison.
Thanks so much for this! I’ve been searching for the perfect spreadsheet. Nice!
I am also having the same problem no xls so I can download it. If you could email me a copy of these that would be great. I told myself this year I was going to keep track of my spending better. We are going to be on a really tight budget I hope if I can get my husband to help me out.
Thanks
Alisia, you should be able to follow the steps to use google docs. Still save it as an .xls file since you will need that file extension to upload to google docs. I don’t have Excel either and I only use the google docs online application for all of my spreadsheet work. HTH!
I cant find the export part?
Shannon, go to the spreadsheet you want to download. Then go to file – export – xls. Save it on your personal computer. Then go create/open your google docs account. Click on Upload (right next to Create New). Find the file you just saved and upload that file. Now, you have the information to update/edit on your own. Google docs is a great resource for those who like to have access to files online wherever, and for people like me without excel.
these are great thanks! I too LOVE google docs great way to share and be able to access anywhere. I did notice your tips for downloading but think I found a more simple way to open in a personal google account initially (pretty sure it worked–I typed in my copied/saved google doc and it didn’t change your original; if not please let me know so I can delete the file! but you can try it out too and see if it changes your original).
But I think if you open the file link then click on “file” then “make a copy” and then choose a name to save as–your readers should be able to save it to their google docs initially (if that’s what they want, rather than saving it as excel first then opening as google doc). Just fyi if it’s any help! thanks again!
Jenny, that should work perfectly – you are right! I will update that and suggest they have a google account to begin with since it may not work if they don’t (I’m guessing). Thanks!!
Quick question: I do a fair amount of produce shopping at Whole Foods, which does not break out sales savings, but does break out coupon savings on their receipts. I save much more money through smart purchasing than I do through coupons at WF. Should I just do my best to estimate or just stick with the total spent and coupons only?
Shylo, Walmart is the same way. With stores like that, I just track the value of coupons redeemed. It seems like the easiest way to do it.
I’ve been using your spreadsheet since Jan 1 2010 and I love it. I am running out of rows and cannot figure out how to insert new ones – without messing up the formulas. I’m a xcel nerd – can you help???
Anne, to add new rows, click on the cell or row below the row you want to add. Then, click on the row which contains the formulas that you want. Copy the entire row and just paste it in the new rows. That will copy the formulas down for you so the totals are still adding up. HTH! Please shoot me an me if you still can’t figure it out :)
I don’t understand columns F-K. Can you explain them?
Thanks,
Nicolle
This is where the math is being computed, like she said in her post don’t bother with them this is where the formulas are that help compute the totals and such…if you mess up the formulas it messes up the math. And I am not one that could fix it, I just know to leave them alone:) Hope this helps!
Is it just me ?? Was there a video somewhere in here ? When I tried to watch it gave me an error it was private ?? Sooo confused, Love the updated spreadsheets by the way :-)
Sheryl, I just updated the video. I thought it was public, it is now!
Awesome Awesome Awesome!! I just told my husband last night I wanted to create these spreadsheets!! I told him I wanted to figure out what the lowest price was that I could buy an item for and also how much of each item I buy. Last year I bought 2 of the huge huge packages of toilet paper and we have 8 rolls of it left as of today! My goal is to find out how much we actually use of daily items and then what the lowest price is so that I can then stockup for a given period. These spreadsheets just made my life that much easier! Think I am going to also add a tracker in of when I we used the product and how long it took us to use it. I think people are going to think I am crazy, but I am so excited to see what happens! I also told my husband- wouldn’t it be great to keep track of where we normally eat out and how much we spent of the year and then buy gift cards at the end of the year when you can get the bonus cards for buys so much and then only use those for the entire year!? I know I am crazy! Our goal is to be debit free and I am going to watch every penny we spend! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I also have a question about the Grocery Savings Weekly Scenario- when I download it all of your formulas say #value! I know that means there is an error somewhere, but I just don’t know where as I haven’t even touched anything in the file yet! I recently created a budget spreadsheet for myself for the whole year. It has when each bill is due and then it is listed under the date that bill is due. Each week I input my variables like grocery, gas, etc and it calculates my projected amount in my account for the whole year. I have an average for our weekly paycheck and I just change it to what we actually got paid each week. I love it because it shows me how spending x amount of money today will affect my account 1 wk, 1 month, and at the end of the year. Right now I am trying to work out all the formula kinks, but hopefully I could share it with everyone soon!
Hooray! Thank you so much! I love coupons and I love spreadsheets (but hate setting them up) and I am soooo happy I can now track everything! Thanks for doing all the hard work for me :-D.
Hello! I do not see a response to Sarah B.’s comment from January abou the error in the formula! Did you send her an email? I will try to see what is wrong with the formula…but any help would be appreciated!
Marlene, are you getting the error messages too? I’m not seeing them on mine so let me know for sure and I can take a look.
HELLO, I HAVE SAVED YOUR SAVINGS SPREADSHEET TO MY COMPUTER BUT I CANT FIGURE OUT HOW TO FILL ON THE BOXES ONCE THE SPREADSHEET IS OPEN. I HAVE TRIED TO UPLOAD IT TO GOOGLE DOCS AND I STILL CANT ENTER MY INFO. I BELIEVE I HAVE EXCEL AND I HAVE TRIED THAT ALSO. ANY IDEAS?
Jennifer, if it’s not too much to wait, I would suggest holding off on using it since I’m making some updates to it that I will release in early December. It will be much easier to use and you should have no issues entering any information whatsoever.
I downloaded but when i tried to put it on Google docs it keeps getting an error! :(
Hey Keisha, what error message are you getting?
I am having trouble with Google Docs. I try to download it after uploading it and the screen goes blank. I have a mac so am I missing something? I also have open office but can’t figure out how to save it that way. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would love to use this as I think it would help my family greatly! Thanks for taking the time to make it!
hi! i just downloaded your spreadsheet and i am in love already! but i am having one issue. when i first downloaded it the sheet was blank but the top portion with all the overalls was filled in and it has not came up with just the totals i have inputted. sorry if this doesn’t make sense. i am new at this. thank you for any info that you can give me!
Emily, consider using our Savings Tracking tool instead. It does the same thing and you can avoid all the Excel issues that most people have.
https://savingslifestyle.com/2012/01/savings-tracking-tool/
Fantastic commentary – I loved the points ! Does someone know where my assistant could obtain a fillable a form form to use ?